*Dusts off the topic*
Just to add my point of view, as one of those Japanese learners obsessed.

I think there are several types of "Japanese learners obsessed" :
- the ones who're the really obsessed and want to learn Japanese, go to Japan and more ; it's maybe just because they didn't have a dream before, and it's their first real dream so they want to realise it, and they "veil their mind" to see first the positive things for after discover the negative ones. This ones don't want to stay with the bases of anime/manga/pop etc. and always try to get more and more culture from Japan. I think/hope I'm one of those people : when I think to Japan or Japanese I just have a feeling that I never had before ; this gives me a purpose in my life, something that I really want to work for, and which I want to give my best for. It's just a dream, there are several degrees of this one, but when the dream is very important, you just don't want to let him go away, you don't want to give up.
- the ones who learn Japanese "because of" and just "because of", but they can quickly meet a wall, don't give a single effort more, and then give up.

I remember when I was young : I saw on one of Naruto's book that they were saying that Japanese is a very difficult language to learn, and a lot of people that tried to learn it gave up (so the subliminal message said : don't learn Japanese). So I was thinking that this was really impossible to learn it, and never cared about it until now. This is one beautiful language that I want to speak, write, read and understand, and whatever the barriers, I will passe through (I hope ). My dream is even over that : I want to make it a second native language, and this is just a dream, who knows if it will realize ?

I think that what triggered me into this is... the Vocaloid songs more than the manga/anime.
So if it's a dream, I think you just have to respect it and let him go, see what it will become. Just wonder... is it motivation or obsession, or both ?

Ah, and I can tell you another similar story about the American Dream, but I think you already know it.

PS : I have to know that as anywhere, there are a lot of problems in Japan : yes, grass is never greener on the other side as TheEnglishKnitter said, and it's always hard to be a "gaijin", whatever the country ; well in Japan as anywhere if you want to become something, your best friends are the time and your efforts.
~ It's just my point of view. And sorry for my poor english.

I think for the people that are learning Japanese is so that they can have a change of life. Like me, two years of learning Japanese and I finally reached the point where I'm intermediate level of Japanese, the reason for that is that I never gave up on Japanese. When I first started learning I was confused how on the language was. But when I kept learning, I had begun gaining knowledge of how the way Japanese is spoken. There were times when I struggled on grammar and felt like I'd never get pass that barrier that kept blocking me of reaching my answers. Two years of learning without any online classes or language school, all through self-learning at home. I was obsessed with Japanese. I have OCD (Obsession Compulsive Disorder) which is something that when I'm obsessed with something I tend not to give up on it whether it is difficult work that goes beyond my limit, I keep pushing myself until I acquire that particular object/goal. All thanks to my OCD that kept me going on Japanese so that I can start my life in Japan and live there.

For my words of wisdom to the other people that are learning Japanese, I say "Let not the desire that you want to obtain stray or fade away, stick with the, and your wish will be granted".

「鷹の魂は消えないで空の中に永遠に生きる。」 "A Hawk's spirit never dies, for it lives on forever in the sky"
-Joey Vega

I am also one of those obsessed learners. I don't know about the others obsessions but MY reasons are because the Japanese is something that I've always admire sense I was a child. Most little children role models would be their parents, teachers, actors/actresses or someone locally that they have seen before. but in my case, I've been exposed to their culture as a child. The music I listened to were Japanese, The movies I've watched were Japanese,my roles models were Japanese, HELL when my parents divorced my own dad had Japanese girlfriend! As I had gotten older I've hang around many Asian friends (Mostly Chinese and Koreans though). As I've gotten older, I began to appreciate other cultures from around the world. but all in all, the Japanese seems too fit me the best.

When was the last time you saw a learner of French/German/Spanish whatever obsess over their respective countries in the same way? I personally have never-which is odd considering that the argument of social misfits trying to start anew in a completely different place can be applied to any country in the world, not just Japan.

Now I thought of the possibility that maybe it's because Europe or Latin America, etc are still western places and so learners of those languages from the US don't see these countries as adequate escape routes whereas Japan can be so different that to some Japanese learners it's the perfect escape.However, other East Asian countries like China and Korea are just as "exotic" and non-western as Japan, probably even more so (Japan is one of the most western countries in east Asia if not the most western). And yet still here I have never seen a learner of mandarin Chinese or Korean utterly obsess over China and Korean in the same way as some Japanese learners.

I'm am only speaking for myself in this matter. I feel that the west is like one giant culture. Sure we may have different languages, different ethnic groups, etiquette, and want not, but most of them, especially the younger generation all live in similar mindsets. I'm am NOT trying to put the west down but These are some of the things I feel .They all want to be sportsman or watch sports/soap operas all day (yet they hipocritcaly bash Gamers and anime fans) and believes anything the television box tells them,they are VERY ignorant about the cultures that differ from theirs, they are paranoid of practically anything not american and try to westernize it. Sense being from the west (the US) there's nothing in particularly interesting about them to me anyhow.Japan (and other eastern nations) still have traditions. They still hold to something that made them what they are today. They hold things that many of the westerns or losing and may never have again. I'm not saying japan don't share similar attributes as I described above but there is more room for personality. I want to move there because it's a whole new experience. I like something different. I like to adapt to something new. even if it's permanent. A culture that I can experience. Theres so much about it that I could never get tired of.

I think we are all familiar with the learners of Japanese who take it a wee bit overboard and by that I mean the ones who have never been to Japan, don't know anything about the country except for what they see in anime/manga but yet have no doubt in their mind that it is the best country on earth and/or know for a fact that they want to move there permanently (most of the time with unrealistic expectations of what kind of employment they can get given their current skill levels in whatever field and of course their often poor Japanese language ability).

Well in my case. I'm not going until AFTER I complete school. I want a Ph.D. in computer science and something minor in electronics, robotics, Nano tech to become an computer science engineer. Japan does have one of the most high tech industry in the world hence the second main reason to move their.

there are other reasons why I want to move there but these are the most important ones.

Joey 鷹 Vega wrote:I think for the people that are learning Japanese is so that they can have a change of life. Like me, two years of learning Japanese and I finally reached the point where I'm intermediate level of Japanese, the reason for that is that I never gave up on Japanese. When I first started learning I was confused how on the language was. But when I kept learning, I had begun gaining knowledge of how the way Japanese is spoken. There were times when I struggled on grammar and felt like I'd never get pass that barrier that kept blocking me of reaching my answers. Two years of learning without any online classes or language school, all through self-learning at home. I was obsessed with Japanese. I have OCD (Obsession Compulsive Disorder) which is something that when I'm obsessed with something I tend not to give up on it whether it is difficult work that goes beyond my limit, I keep pushing myself until I acquire that particular object/goal. All thanks to my OCD that kept me going on Japanese so that I can start my life in Japan and live there.

For my words of wisdom to the other people that are learning Japanese, I say "Let not the desire that you want to obtain stray or fade away, stick with the, and your wish will be granted".

Wow, you're a fantastic exemple, I hope I'll follow your way, I have kind of admiration for you.
But I think it's more your strong will than your anxiety disorder : I mean, OCD isn't just for the gestures or actions ? However if it would act on something like the learning of Japanese, you would work everyday most of time on it, alright ? I think, maybe (surely) I'm wrong.

Well, I'm a newbie, for sure, I'm at the grammar point for the novice, and it's difficult to learn, but where I'm in trouble is for the kanji, with their various and numerous pronunciations, their similarities... It's not give up that freaks me, but don't remember things that I didn't worked well. I'm not afraid of the difficult things, in reality I prefer when it's complicated. So strange it can be, anything that is complex but beautiful attracts me. When you know that, you know all of me.

I actually like being obsessive... I could work for days on a kinship chart of Japanese terms,
Prbably if I start running out of real Japanese terms I'd look for ancient Japanese terms, and then start looking uo text books, and failing that even leaving parts of it out, to continue on with more and more parts of the kinship system. Problems that for me seam to lie in the wat are my own learning issues, and periodic mental health issues caused by excessive stress and self repression.
Also badly organized and extremely depressive...
Also my inner desire for perfectionism, I really don't like anything to be disorganized.

By the way, as for cleanliness, inspite of not bring orderly I could perfectly clean someone elses room, and then all I want to do is play play and play.